Manufacturer

Blakely & Ellis

TerryLeave a comment

Frank H. Ellis, OC (October 13, 1893 – July 4, 1979) was an early Canadian aviator and member of the Early Birds of Aviation. He was born in Nottingham, England in 1893 and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta with his family in 1912. With Tom Blakely, he constructed and flew a biplane designed after a Curtiss model in 1914. He was the first Canadian to make a parachute jump from an airplane in Canada, July 5, 1919 at Crystal Beach, Fort Erie, Ontario. Beside his day job as bus driver, Ellis wrote extensively on the history of aviation, and was an avid aircraft model builder. He located several historic Canadian aviation artifacts and arranged for their donation to museums. In 1954 he published “Canada’s Flying Heritage”, the first major study of the History of aviation in Canada. In 1972, he was awarded the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada. He died July 4, 1979 at the age of 85, in North Vancouver, BC.

Blackburn

TerryLeave a comment

The Blackburn Aeroplane Company was founded by Robert Blackburn, who had designed and built his first aircraft in 1909. The Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company was created in 1914. A new factory was built at Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire in 1916.

November 1911

Throughout the company’s history the emphasis was on the design and production of naval aircraft; its first for the Royal Navy was the twin-engined GP seaplane of 1916. A similar landplane, the Kangaroo, was supplied to the RAF in 1918. Aircraft to serve with the Navy include the Baffin, Blackburn, Buccaneer, Dart, Firebrand, Ripon, Roc, Shark and Skua. In 1930 acquired Cirrus Hermes Engineering Co. By acquiring the Cirrus-Hermes company in 1937, Blackburn started producing aircraft engines – the Blackburn Cirrus range. Blackburn Aircraft Company founded 1936. The company’s name was changed to Blackburn Aircraft Limited in 1939.

Robert Blackburn Article

During 1948, discussions between General Aircraft Ltd and the Humberside firm of Blackburn led to a merger of the two companies under the joint name of Blackburn & General Aircraft Ltd. The new company was formed on 1 January 1949 and it was proposed that all work in progress at the various factories be com¬pleted as originally planned.

Company name reverted to Blackburn Aircraft Ltd. in 1959, when Blackburn & General became the holding company. Its aircraft production operation was absorbed into Hawker Siddeley in 1960, and its engine operations into Bristol Siddeley, as part of the rationalisation of British aircraft manufacturers, and the Blackburn name was dropped completely in 1963.